Be the agent that wins the instruction

Julian O’Dell, Agency Trainer, TM Training & Development

With competition increasing, securing the instruction ahead of the other agents invited out to value is more important than ever.

Give yourself the edge

The first crucial principle is to recognise that being good is no longer good enough. You now need to be exceptional and stand out from the crowd. One way you can do that is to build a high level of trust to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Why do we trust some people in business and not others? Here are a few things that people who are great at
building trust do, that you as agents might take on board.

Under promise, over deliver

At every opportunity, go above your vendor or landlord’s expectations. For example, after a valuation most agents will confirm the valuation a day or so later in a pretty standard, boring letter. You could go further by delivering a full marketing report including things like photographs and property measurements, and get it back to them within half a working day.

Listen effectively

A winning listening technique is that once you’ve got the full picture from your potential client about their situation, summarise it back to them: “Let me get this straight – what you’re looking to do is XYZ”. This shows that you’re treating them as an individual and tailoring your approach to their needs, rather than being a typical agent offering a “one size fits all” approach.

Give them options

Naturally, we’ve all got targets to hit and you want to win the instruction there and then. But that might not always be the best option for your client. Give them options for when they might sell based on different scenarios. Even if they don’t choose to sell right now, they’ll value your honesty and you’re most likely to win the instruction when they’re ready – as well as potentially bagging a few recommendations from them along the way.

Demonstrate knowledge and expertise

You need to know the property market inside out. The question that’ll help you demonstrate your expertise is “what’s going on in the property market at the moment”? If you don’t directly get asked this, tease the question out to allow you to show that you’re the property expert; that you have knowledge that your client, and other agents, don’t have.

Some quick ways to build up your knowledge and expertise

House Price IndicesFor national and regional asking price trends, look out for Rightmove’s House Price Index. Check it out here.

For completed house sale prices, the Government’s monthly UK House Price Index is a must read, with detailed information on transaction numbers in each area.

TwitterYou don’t have to tweet yourself, just follow interesting people who will absolutely help you learn things about the property market on a day to day basis. Some of my favourites are @henrypryor and @propertyjourn – and of course there’s @agencytrainer and @RightmovePro.

Google Alerts

Setting these up will mean you get email alerts when news is posted about topics that you want to be clued up on. Set them up for local terms like “Kent housing market” or “Manchester property prices”.